Show ELY LY NEVADAS NEVA DAtS GREAT COPPER CAMP EDITORIAL correspondence 1 ely white pine county nevada like ting ingham ham old reliable was worked for or 0 many years for gold silver and lead before ore 0 it was discovered that the ores of its mines ines were far more valuable for their cop aper er contents than were all of the other met bals ls combined and like bingham it has sprung into wonderful prominence during ih he past few years and for the simple reason akon that its copper resources represent val hamilton was in the glory of its wonderful production and for a period mr robinson worked in the canyon in his search for gold bearing properties in the year 1872 buckskin watson made his advent into robinson danyon canyon and located the famous joanna mine about two miles west of ely a gold producer for the treatment of whose ores he built a small stamp mill the returns from which according to all accounts were more mine in robinson canyon a short distance from lane city which is about two miles west of ely several years later this mine was worked for gold by C D lane of california mining fame who failed in his enterprise owing to the failure to recover the values of the ore by the cyanide process later on the passed into the hands of the ch Clia inman mining company under whose management it was equipped 7 Z 60 aa ans r running n 1 ing up into millions piled upon mil uth ions the e aggregate total upon careful com I 1 gu uta tation tion being so stupendous as almost to belief N ag R robinson canyon canyo n white pine county nevada at the mouth of which is cozily nested ed the pushing and enterprising town ol of ly IY was discovered in the year 1869 by ugene robinson while the great camp of 0 ely nevada than satisfactory mr watson also located the brooks and pilot knob mines now owned by the giroux con coll company the eureka and star of the west now owned by the nevada consolidated company and a portion of the ground now included in the holdings of the cumberland ely company in 1894 james W N magill and H L underwood located the Chai liman photo by 0 S dowe ely with the largest mill ever erected in white pine county and the company might have been successful had it not been for the fact that copper sulphides sulp hides were encountered at a depth of only feet this was the first copper discovery to be made in the camp and this may aptly be termed as the launching of the copper boom for ely and which has led to such extensive exploration and development work all over robinson district and throughout an area four or five miles wide by 4 twelve or fourteen in length in the near nea r neighborhood of the is the property of the ely mining Bl milling illing company whose property the robust mine is equipped with a fine milling plant utilizing the cyanide process of reduction but here too the appearance of copper sulphides sulp hides in the mine workings caused a shutdown shut down and the property is now idle across the canyon south from the robust is the revenue gold mine owned by ed millard son of ely the revenue has i c fine hoisting plant development is in progress and good volumes of 15 gold ore are blocked out for the treatment of which it is expected reduction works are to b be built in the near future on both sides of the canyon until copper flat is reached a mile or more to the west there are many old producing mines some of which can show receipts for payment ot of but a dark r red e d soil which is here and there cut by iron droppings crop pings or copper blossoms as they are called this zone is some ten or eleven miles in length easterly and westerly and from a mile and a half to three miles in width this is within the proven belt or within the developed zone and any place within these boundaries from seven ty five to one hundred shafts have been sunk and all of these have encountered the sul aphides after reaching a depth of feet some at a lesser depth these chese shafts are scattered over the area mentioned and have proved the universal of the section named to a certain extent and the rule is that after reaching the sulphides sulp hides the copper values increase one per cent for every one ofie hundred feet in depth gained development so far indicating an average value of three per cent copper while in some portions of the zone values of even six and seven per cent are claimed lower depths and the iron re inkins to color the surface if in the dis s district there the any evidence of copper and much iron 17 is it is s a reasonable conclusion thatah that the contained copper and that either this pyrite fyrst ore or better the enrichment of the same vis will be found in depth by sinking the giroux consolidated the giroux consolidated company the first to begin active and extensive operations in the copper zone has about feet of underground workings over one hall of which are in pay ore ranging three per cent or better to the ton and from to in gold on an average and in the district anything above one and one half per cent is considered good pay it is almost beyond comprehension and yet it is stated as a fact that in the mines of the company all of tons of ore are blocked out olit ready for extraction that will make handsome returns after deducting mining mill t A T ja 1 I 1 J j r f fit f r ts 6 1 eo r X 1 S X C co cy b ya fetco fo TCO f V CN VA pa ra J C 7 X 0 sio si o rl I 1 shaft r s S des A nr ascole scole 1200 eol map aap showing some of the properties on the copper belt ely nevada the bullion tax among the number being the old keystone located in 1872 or 1873 from which one shipment of ore was made sent out by bull team that netted its owners the keystone is a silver lead producer ducer and in 1882 a mill was built for the treatment of its output the ore occurs in blanket formation with lime as the hanging and iron manganese as the foot wall there is only about twenty feet of lime above the ore body and this old mine could certainly be successfully operated under modern methods the first man to attempt copper smelt ing in robinson canyon was A D compton who built a small furnace in the year 1894 but as he used only wood for fuel the enterprise ter prise was a failure the copper zone the copper zone in the sulphide belt covers an area that is somewhat difficult to describe on the surface surf ace over an area for miles melesin lesin mi in extent hardly anything is visible outside of the proven belt in the lime away from the or quartz retie zone in which the great and inexhaustible deposits of copper occur important discoveries co veries are constantly betas bein I 1 made two miles northwest of the belt ore ha has S been found by claim owners going as high as 16 per cent in its copper values north ot of lane city four miles and on a line westerly from hercules gap copper ore has been found showing good pay values while to the east of the belt copper ore has been found which it is claimed goes 60 percent per cent some authorities who have inspected the tha copper belt of ely claim that the copper bearing rock of the district is nothing moro more than an immense porphyry intrusion this porphyry so one report reads is a white sili clous rock which on the surface is weathered brown with but little trace of copper this is characteristic of all the copper deposits on the surface the copper when oxidized is very soluble but the iron is not therefore the copper is 15 carried to ing and other expenses the company has developed and proven about a mile square of its property by means of ten wording shafts which have attained depths ranging from to 1000 feet a number of 0 these shafts being connected by underground workings a majority of which have been run through ore bodies of unknown dimensions and extent the giroux has fourteen hoists on its property and forty three shafts of from sixty three to one thousand feet in depth at its pilot knob mine the company has a ton smelting smelling sm elting plant in course of construction and which can be placed in commission about the latter part of september or in october or as soon as the nevada northern railroad gets near enough to furnish coke for smelting smelling sm elting operations within vV thin three years if all reports are correct combined the giroux con will have a smelting smelling sm elting and concentrating plant in operation in steptoe valley bel below ow F ely ay that wl have a a capacity of tons ton S of ore daily or twice the capacity of the A S smelter at garfield utah and the mining review is informed that the mines and smelter of the company are to be connected by a double track steam railroad which the company will build the nevada consolidated there are more than six big independent copper companies operating in the copper belt chief among which may be mentioned the nevada consolidated which owns some of the choicest ground in the copper zone amounting to over a thousand acres the aps ops operations rations of the company are being conducted on a gigantic plan and it has proven up its holdings on an extensive scale through five shafts on which there ara an equal number of fine hoisting works the ruth and the eureka comprise the largest workings at present although at the star pointer a four compartment shaft is being sunk and this eventually will constitute the main working avenue for the company in the way of ore extraction besides these shafts the company has numerous smaller workings all of which are being utilized in tion is now near cherry creek and it is believed that it will reach ely some time in september or october at which time the camp should enjoy a genuine and substantial boom the company is also identified with the ille bank of ely which is reputed to be one of the most solid and substantial banking institutions of the west the Cumbe cumberland rhind ely the cumberland ely company under the management of george gunn is pushing development work on an extensive scale and is sinking eight shafts on three of which there are hoisting works but as matters are on the development period peri odwith with the company mum is the order of the day no ore is being marketed on the copper belt at the present time this is the pe of development with every company or individual operating within the zone and consequently no revenue from the mines will be forthcoming for some time to come or until big reduction works have been installed for the treatment of the millions of tons of pay ore blocked out in mine work i fc vacant and until the streets p resented presented an appearance of dese desertion r ti 0 n and desolation until but few persist persistent e n t and persevering families and individuals remained hoping almost against hope that the day of resurrection for their camp might come and come it has for 1900 brought in its wake a reawakening in mining affairs an era of investment and those who have stayed with their mine holdings for all these years are now reaping their reward nearly all now have a few thousands to their credit in the bank while a few have money to burn ely is very prettily located near the mouth of robinson canyon the site Is picturesque tur esque with plenty of room for building and other improvements in the outskirts of the town there are quite a number of pretty and tasty homes surrounded by lawns and trees and many more such will be erected in the near future the advent of copper magnates into the camp brought new life into its once solitary st streets the sleepers awoke hundreds of newcomers have adopted the town as their 4 7 Z ta g cl us e Z eureka shaft of the nevada con ruth hoist of the nevada co opening up and proving the companas comp anys vast holdings closely associated with the nevada consolidated soli dated is the cumberland and ely and a prominent mining man who stands close to the management of both concerns recently said to the writer within five years the nevada consolidated and the cumberland ely will be smelting smelling sm elting tons of ore daily the ultimate intention of the guggenheims being to build a ton plant on a large scale it is possible to make small profits on 15 per cent copper but big money can be made on ore going as much as 25 per cent in its copper contents some of the mines are productive of 10 and 15 per cent copper but the great mass of ore from 1000 to feet in width an and 1 I several miles in length alon along the copper belt it goes within a fraction of three per cent with payable gold values present the nevada consolidated is building the nevada northern railroad from cobre on the southern pacific to ely a distance of about miles the road in its construe ings millions have been expended by the leading companies in the purchase and development of property and millions will be spent in their equipment and in the construction st ruction of smelters shelters sm elters concentrating plants railroads tramways tram ways etc it sometimes takes years to open up great copper mines and to equip them all AH low grade camps are about the same in this respect but when the mines of ely begin turning out the their r immense wealth of the red metal a hundred millions will be taken out for every ten millions that have been expended in their exploration and operation the town of ely the history of ely is the history of nearly all of the old mining milling camps of the west which during the time of their prosperity prior to the year 1873 when silver was de boasted of populations running up into the thousands with tho of the white metal these thrifty and populous camps gradually dwindled down until nearly every building was future abiding place and now on every there is push and activity building material is scarce and hard to get and yet notwithstanding this difficulty buildings building sare are going up everywhere some being of brick and some of lumber but all will be two stories and quite modern and commodious of restaurants there are quite a number but lodging houses have been crowded to their utmost capacity this difficulty has been overcome by the erection of large rooming tents and these have been found comfortable and quite satisfactory for a long time the cry and demand for building material and supplies has been great but with the advent of the nevada northern into camp and when the magic lamp of alladin lias has been rubbed a change for the better will take place in ely that will asto astonish ilish even its oldest inhabitants for a town of its size ely can boast of a goodly number of business houses it already has two banks two newspapers the Sem semiweekly Weekly white pine news and the weekly mining record two lumber yards one or two brick yards a lime kiln six or more more mercantile houses two drug stores one oie or two churches several livery and feed stables a first class tin shop barber shops assayers and surveyors doctors and lawyers real estate dealers and nearly every line of business is represented generally by people from the outside who have brought with them the push and vigor s so characteristic of town makers and camp makers in many respects ely is quite metropolitan for it has its electric light and telephone systems waterworks water works automobile lines and other modern conveniences and necessities with paved streets and a general cleaning up and clearing up all around it would be an inviting spot for the tourist and traveler for the climate is salubrious the water good and the scenery charming ely notes and personals V T lewis owner and manager of the lewis drug store on murry street ely carries a choice stock of drugs toilet articles paints etc and is building up a nice trade george hagaman of eureka runs a daily stage service between eureka and ely sundays excepted W B graham of ely is agent for mr hagaman at the E ely ay end ot of the line the nevada northern has its steel laid nearly to cherry creek and the road bed is now about thirty miles north of ely the completion of the road will mean much to both of these places S F pheby of ely one of the |